Our state is faced with two new challenges:
- Tropical Storm Ida has devastated many parts of our state. New Jersey’s families and communities absolutely need immediate help with their recovery; and
- Thousands of Afghan refugees seeking safe-harbor now reside at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and they clearly are in need as they begin their new lives.
As you know, New Jerseyans mounted an incredible collective response to the pandemic through the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund (NJPRF). Thousands of individuals, families, companies, and foundations came together to raise funds and other in-kind donations which we in turn deployed to on-the-ground organizations in coordination with our state’s relief and recovery efforts.
We feel compelled and have been asked by many to bring together a similar response to support those communities and families recovering from Ida here and now, and the Afghan refugees in New Jersey over an extended period of time. To this end, we have created two new funds at the Community Foundation of New Jersey:
Akin to our approach to the pandemic, our plan is to use the resources raised through these funds to fill gaps in the response effort and to ensure that our state’s charitable resources are not diluted by other initiatives outside of our state but rather remain in and are exclusively focused on New Jersey.
We are Jersey strong together!